Big changes in security are greeting students as they return to classes in the Blue Valley School District this year.

The district has made strategic modifications to ensure that all of its buildings help keep unwanted visitors out of the buildings.

Advertisement

Oxford Middle School is one of the buildings that has a new entrance. Students will come and go with faculty members watching at the beginning and end of each school day. Visitors won't be allowed into the building without passing through the front office, a type of entrance known as a pinch point.

Administrators said pinch points will make schools safer. The school's resource officer will be based in the area and large windows will help people monitor those who come and go.

If someone comes into the pinch point that shouldn't be there, staff members can lock the school doors at the push of a button.

"We don't want our schools to feel like there's a strong security presence," said Dave Hill, the director of facilities and operations for the Blue Valley School District. "We want to be very transparent, we want people to feel safe and secure, but at the same time not burdened with security. We feel like the solutions we have here do that."

There are 13 schools in the Blue Valley School District that have received new entrances. All of the district's 34 schools have been given security upgrades.

The upgrades cost the district millions of dollars, much of it paid for through a bond issue approved by voters.